Klamath Basin restoration agreement extension -- can we get a debate?

Humboldt County signed on to the Klamath Hydropower Settlement Agreement and Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement in early 2010 to supposedly speed Klamath dam removal. Now six years after PacifiCorp's license to operate the dams has run out, authorizing legislation is terminally stalled and the Secretary of Interior's Decision to remove dams under the KHSA can't be issued. There is also strong evidence that KBRA implementation is causing violations of the Endangered Species Act and catastrophic water supply problems for Upper Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges.

Humboldt County has tacitly condoned these actions and our Supervisors are considering extending our commitment to the KBRA for an additional two years.

On Nov. 14 in Eureka at the Aquatic Center, the Klamath Basin Coordinating Council will meet to consider amendments to the KBRA. The KBCC is the new decision making body guiding restoration and river management set up in 2010 under the KBRA, despite lack legislative authorization. Among the amendments to be considered is one that will extend the KBRA until 2014, when otherwise it would terminate due to lack of authorization on Dec. 31, 2012.

Only parties that have signed the KHSA and KBRA can be part of the KBCC, which holds some of its meetings in public but also has private sessions. Its technical committees, also comprised of parties only, meet in private and produce no public records. Federal agencies participating with technical committees composed of private parties and that lack transparency is a patent violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, but that isn't the only thing illegal about the KBRA.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is restricting flow releases to the lower Klamath River at Iron Gate Dam to dangerously low levels contrary to requirements of their 2010 coho salmon biological opinion regulating Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Irrigation Project operation. This is the result of a KBRA policy to fill Upper Klamath Lake as a priority to insure water supply for irrigators. Similarly, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorized the BOR in April 2010 to essentially dry up Tule Lake and illegally remove endangered Lost River and shortnose sucker species in violation of ESA and California laws. Decisions by the KBCC have also caused a shortage of water allocation to both the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges that resulted in the death of 20,000 water fowl in March 2012.

Surely Humboldt County couldn't be complicit in actions that pose so much risk to the Klamath River, fail to protect fish and wildlife and are in blatant violation of State and federal law. In fact the county has a seat on the KBCC and its technical committees and Jill Duffy, former 5th District Supervisor from 2002-2010, has formally delegated authority to "to sign and execute agreements on behalf of the Board" since passage of a Resolution in July 2010. Jill has been funded by a NMFS grant to "allow Humboldt County to continue to have direct involvement and input along with the other stakeholders in resolution of the Klamath basin water and fishery issues."

It is difficult to discern the level of Jill's involvement on Humboldt County's behalf in the bad decisions that are being made under the KBRA because KBCC minutes do not have a roster of participants, technical committees have no minutes or records, and she has not publicly reported her activities despite requirements within the grant that funds her to do so.

The Klamath Settlement has not been discussed at a board meeting for more than a year and yet the supervisors are likely poised to extend the KBRA as the only solution to Klamath River problems. Only two current board members were seated when the KHSA and KBRA were signed. What knowledge do new members have of the lengthy and convoluted agreements? Isn't it time for long overdue and healthy Klamath settlement debate before the supervisors extend our commitment?

The fastest path to Klamath dam removal now is through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing process where a mandate from NMFS requiring $240 million fish ladders will render project operation uneconomic and force dam owner PacifiCorp to decommission. Negotiations for a new approach to restoration and associated legislation should be public and take an ecological restoration approach where more marsh and shallow lakes in the Upper Klamath Basin are restored to rebuild natural water storage and water filter capacity. See http://www.KlamathER.org for more information.

Patrick Higgins is a consulting fisheries biologist who has studied the Klamath River for more than 20 years and who provided non-Party Tribes with technical assistance in responding to the Secretary of Interior's dam removal process.